Pointe de LeydéDouarnenez
borderlineexposed head-on to the swell today
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rocky point to the north-west, rock 2–12 m, shore; bass, pollack. OUTSIDE the bay closing line. Coords approx.
Google MapsDouarnenez spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras
8.3
wave 0.2 m
visibility6m
Dive today — wave, wind and visibility.
Sources: IPMA · NDBC · Copernicus — high confidence · data 05:10
Sources & confidence
- Sources
- IPMA · NDBC buoys · Copernicus Marine
- Method
- Model consensus, read per window
- Freshness
- Re-read every hour, per coast
Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine
The verdict comes from seven water factors and hard safety gates — not ten tabs. Go or stay.
How we score the water
Our own model
Our own forecast engine — not a third-party widget. It weighs these water factors into one go-or-stay verdict for this coast; the 0–10 dial is that verdict, read out as a number.
- Swell & wave memory
- Height, period and direction of the swell, plus the wake of recent storms — an old storm still stirs the water, and the engine remembers.
- Wind & gusts
- Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
- Tide phase
- Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
- Water temperature
- Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
- Currents & outflow
- Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
- Rain runoff & air clarity
- Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
- Coast shape & exposure
- How the coast faces the swell — a sheltered cove keeps the water clean; an exposed, head-on point takes a penalty.
Safety gates
- Thunderstorm forecast — an instant red, no exceptions.
- An official warning (MeteoAlarm / IPMA) — yellow, or red for the higher ranks.
- Missing input data — a would-be green is capped to yellow rather than overstated.
- Strong disagreement between forecast models — a green day is pulled back to yellow.
- Night hours — forced red; the window is closed after dark.
It all folds into a single 0–10 score and one verdict: go or stay.
A forecast, not a guarantee — the sea has the last word.
Where to get in, where to hunt
Entry points with coordinates
Seabed relief — promising ground
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
calmupdated 05:10
Douarnenez — solo, off the rocks
best weather window · solo, stay careful, run the checklist · calm conditions: swell, wind and visibility all normal
wave 0.2 mwind 9 km/hvisibility ~9 mwindow 06:00–21:00
today, best window 06:00–09:00
fish · Visibility 9 m · Water 19.4°C
confidence medium · verdict for the selected day
Whole week — tap a day. is driving swell right now.
Solo risk: carry a float · tell someone your plan and exit time · doubt = don't go. A model-based planner; the call is made on site.
Selected day
Windows, hours
and the day's trends.
The day is picked above, in the hero. Here are that day's windows, the hour-by-hour map and the trends. Tap a window to break down the conditions.
Thursday · today2026-07-23
06:42–22:05 · first quarter
▼ 06:00▲ 12:00▼ 18:00 · 2.3 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide0.21 m
Wave0.36 m
Wind18 km/h
Water20 °C
fish activity: moonset 01:20 · moderate · moon underfoot 09:20 · high · moonrise 17:38 · moderate · moon overhead 21:40 · high
Conditions window06:00–09:00
best weather window · solo, stay careful, run the checklist fish
Hs 0.24 mperiod 4.4 swind 9→15surge 0.2viz 6 m
0.24 mup to ~0.48 · 314° at an angle
4.4 sswell moderate
9→15gusts 15 km/h
0.2weak surge
0.11m/s
6 mrecent swell
19.4°C5 mm + hood
▲12:00tide turn near
Atmosphere28 kmlandmarks visible
highmoon underfoot
- calm conditions: swell, wind and visibility all normal
- first hours of the flood — fish moving in
confidence mediumtwilight
The water column
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
What it is
A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.
spearo.app folds wind, wave, swell period, visibility, tides, water temperature and risk into a single verdict — go to the spot or not. It computes 7 days ahead from open marine models (Open-Meteo, IPMA), with no sign-up and no accounts. Built for solo spearfishing off the rocks, where any mistake costs dearly.
Now live: 1152 spots across 189 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
See all spotsThe seabed
Relief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.
On the rock
The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.
The models set the window. Whether you go in is read only at the water: count the sets, watch the surge on the entry. If in doubt, you don't get in.
Entry points
Where to get in
off the rocks.
Scouted entries, coloured by today. The colour is the sea state at the spot, not a guarantee: the wash and a slippery entry you judge on site.
Open the seafloor map
Tombants extérieursDouarnenez
borderlineexposed head-on to the swell today
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rocky drop-offs outside the bay, 5–18 m, boat; bass, pollack, clearer water. OUTSIDE the closing line. Coords approx.
Google MapsSOLO is the biggest risk: underwater you can black out from lack of oxygen silently and fatally, with no one around. Solo is never truly «safe». Below are the best weather windows; carry a buoy, tell someone your plan and exit time, and any doubt — don't go.
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Live cameras, map & reference
Cameras · live
Look at the water
right now.
Check the cam BEFORE you leave. Foam, brown/green murk, or waves washing the entry rocks = No-go. At night/in fog the cam is useless — treat it as «unknown», NOT «green».
Reference
What's in season,
what the law says.
In season now
- bar / loup (European seabass)Bag: north of 48°N — 3/day (except 1 Feb–31 Mar: catch-and-release only); south of 48°N — 2/day year-round.
- maigre (meagre)
- gilthead seabream
- white seabream
- black seabream
- grey mullet
- European conger
- striped red mullet
- common sole
- European hake
- Atlantic mackerelAtlantic 20 cm (North Sea — 30 cm), Mediterranean 18 cm.
- pollackAtlantic/Channel: max 2/day. Practically absent in the Mediterranean.
- Atlantic cod
- brown meagre / corb🚫 Mérou (5 spp.) and corb: TOTAL spearfishing ban in the French Mediterranean (mainland + Corsica), moratorium to end 2033. Size is irrelevant — not a legal target at all.
Law
- ✓No licence and no declaration since 2009 — free practice (décret 2009-727). BUT civil-liability (RC) insurance for spearfishing is MANDATORY (not a myth) — a standalone policy or an FFESSM/FFPSA federation licence. Speargun (arbalète) — 16+.
- ✓Breath-hold only — any breathing apparatus (scuba/hookah) is banned. Night prohibited (sunset to sunrise). Never keep the speargun loaded out of the water. Stay ≥150 m from vessels actively fishing; spearfishing banned in ports, bathing zones and marine reserves.
- ✓Min. sizes are façade-specific (arrêté 26 Oct 2012 + EU 2019/1241): sea bass (bar) 42 cm Atlantic/Channel and 30 cm Mediterranean. In the Med, moratoria protect the grouper (×5) and the brown meagre (corb) — don't shoot them. From 10 Jan 2026 a new registration + catch-declaration regime applies (arrêté 7 Nov 2025). See the species card and the guide.
- ✓EU Regulation 2023/2842: angler registration and catch declaration for certain species (sea bass, pollack, bluefin tuna) due from 10 Jan 2026 — obligation postponed by France while the EU app is not ready; check current status.
- ⛔ 🚫 Mérou (5 spp.) and corb — total spearfishing ban in the Mediterranean (mainland + Corsica), moratorium to end 2033.
- ⛔ Grande nacre (Pinna nobilis) — full take ban (Habitats Dir. 92/43 Annex IV). Marine mammals, turtles, seahorses (Hippocampus), corals — do not touch.
- ⛔ Crustaceans (lobster, spiny lobster, spider crab, ormer/abalone) — harpoon/foëne PROHIBITED. By hand while freediving only, where species/size/season is open. Ormeau (Haliotis) — hand-take heavily restricted/seasonal, effectively closed in many zones.
Rules change. Exact distances from beaches/ports and seasonal closures are set by the local préfecture maritime — check its arrêté and the DIRM/OFB zone map before heading out.
Safety protocol
- Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs, the wash can run 50 m past the foam line. A lull >10 min with period >12 s = a big set «overdue», do NOT enter; enter right after a full set passes and re-check at minute 30.
- Exit FIRST: find your exit AND a backup before entering. On a rocky/boulder shore a 0.5 m rise in swell can make the exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer.
- Headland rip: prominent points often have a permanent topographic rip regardless of the model — locate it, enter/exit on the windward side, never swim against it.
- Cold: wetsuit per the SST chip; the first shiver = a metabolic surge and a drop in breath-hold → get out at the first steady shiver. Cap the session at 45–60 min below 15 °C.
- Solo discipline: buoy up; tell someone the spot and exit time; conservative breath-hold (never push it in cold/murky/surfy water); visibility <3 m — don't enter.
- Afternoon wind: on many coasts the wind builds from midday — plan to be out of the water by midday; the chop builds — get out.
- UV 11:00–15:00 (UVI ≥6): sunscreen and cover up on the surface interval.
- Solo is a fundamental risk (hypoxic blackout with no buddy). Any doubt = No-go.
Spearfishing in Douarnenez: spots, seasons and rules
Spearfishing in Douarnenez only makes sense outside the bay closure line. Do not treat the sheltered bay as a fallback: the local note bans spearfishing inside the Leydé-Coulinec-Île Tristan-Saint-Michel-Flimiou line. Pointe de Leydé is the shore option on 2 to 12 m rock for bass and pollack. The outer drop-offs are a boat option in 5 to 18 m and can hold clearer water. France requires civil-liability insurance, breath-hold only practice and local prefectural checks.
TL;DR
- Douarnenez is a legality-first spot: spearfishing is banned inside the Leydé-Coulinec-Île Tristan-Saint-Michel-Flimiou closing line.
- Use only the outside options: Pointe de Leydé from shore, or the outer rocky drop-offs by boat.
- The bay is sheltered but not automatically clear; the bay head can turn turbid while the outside ledges stay cleaner.
Best spearfishing spots around Douarnenez
These are outside the bay closure. The calm-looking inner bay is not listed as a fallback because the local rule is the controlling fact.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pointe de Leydé | Open rocky point | 2 to 12 m rock | Intermediate shore dive | Shore entry north-west of Douarnenez | Bass and pollack on rock. Stay outside the bay closing line; local coordinates are approximate. |
| Outer drop-offs | Rocky drop-offs outside the bay | 5 to 18 m | Boat, autonomous divers | Boat only | Often clearer than the bay head when suspended sediment builds. Bass and pollack are the listed fish. |
What conditions matter most in Douarnenez?
The bay gives shelter, but the legal closure comes first. Plan around slack water in this mesotidal Atlantic setting, then check whether the outside rock is clean enough. After swell or rain, the bay head can cloud up, while the outer drop-offs may stay more readable. Webcams at Rosmeur, Port-Rhu and Sables Blancs are useful for a visual check, but they do not override the closure line.
FAQ
Can you spearfish inside Douarnenez bay?
No. The closure line bans spearfishing is banned inside the Leydé-Coulinec-Île Tristan-Saint-Michel-Flimiou line.
Is Pointe de Leydé a shore dive?
Yes. It is the listed shore entry, with 2 to 12 m rock, bass and pollack.
Do you need a French spearfishing licence?
No licence or declaration has been required since 2009, but civil-liability insurance is mandatory.
Is scuba spearfishing allowed in France?
No. Spearfishing is breath-hold only; scuba and hookah systems are banned.
What fish are listed for Douarnenez?
The local notes list bass and pollack. Atlantic bass is 42 cm, and pollack is 42 cm with a limit to verify locally.
Sources
Nearby towns
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